Reciprocating floor conveyors are presently being used in a number of environments. The are being installed as floors in the bottoms of large trucks and trailers, for use in both loading and unloading cargo. They are also being used as floors in stationary installations.
Heretofore, in most conveyors of this type seals have been provided to seal the spaces between adjacent floor members. A typical type of seal arrangement is disclosed by FIG. 6 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,963.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,963 also discloses a conveyor which is adapted to function as a particle .[.separater.]. .Iadd.separator.Iaddend.. This conveyor does not include seals between adjacent floor members. The floor members are constructed to taper from regions in which they are close together to regions whereat spaces are provided between them. The spacing between adjacent floor members increases progressively towards the outward end of the conveyor. Accordingly, by the reciprocative motion of the floor members, particulate material of diverse sizes deposited on the infeed end of the conveyor progresses towards the outfeed .Iadd.end .Iaddend.and falls by gravity through the variable spacing between adjacent floor members. In this manner, smaller sizes of particulate material will be separated adjacent the infeed end of the conveyor, whereat the spacing between adjacent slats is at a minimum. The large sizes of particulate material will be separated adjacent the outfeed end of the conveyor whereat the spacing between adjacent slats is at a maximum.
An object of the present invention is to provide a conveyor construction in which the floor members are parallel to each other and between which spaces and channel regions are provided for a plurality of diverse purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,290, granted Sept. 16, 1975, to Robert A. Caughey, discloses various arrangements of a reciprocating slat conveyor for conveying particulate material into and through a press. Some forms of the conveyor utilize right angle oriented surfaces on separate slat members for moving the material. An object of the present invention is to utilize right angle related surfaces on a single floor member for moving material. Specifically, the upper and side surfaces of laterally spaced apart from members are used to move material (e.g. garbage) which is located both on top of and between the floor members. This arrangement solves the problem of providing a floor which can move very abrasive material, such as garbage, without the need of providing a seal between adjacent floor members. The seals are omitted, and the spaces between adjacent floor members are enlarged, and are used in the scheme of operation of the conveyor.